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Alterac Valley
Alterac Valley is a battleground in the continuing war between the Horde and the Alliance. The two opposing sides are the Frostwolf Clan (led by Drek'Thar) and the Stormpike Guard (also known as the Stormpike Expedition, led by Vanndar Stormpike), both of whom lay claim to this secluded territory. History and politics Long ago, before the First War, the warlock Gul'dan exiled a clan of orcs called the Frostwolf Clan (led by Durotan, father of Thrall) to a hidden valley deep in the heart of the Alterac Mountains for refusing to drink the blood of Mannoroth. It is here in the valley's southern reaches that the Frostwolves eked out a living until the rise of Thrall's new Horde. After Thrall's triumphant uniting of the clans, the Frostwolves, now led by the Orc Shaman Drek'Thar, chose to remain in the valley they had for so long called their home. In recent times, however, the relative peace of the Frostwolves has been challenged by the arrival of the Dwarven Stormpike Expedition. The Stormpikes have set up residence in the valley to search for natural resources and ancient relics. It is likely that they did not know of the Frostwolf orcs' connection to the area when choosing to visit the valley. Despite their intentions, the dwarven presence has sparked heated conflict with the Frostwolf orcs to the south, who have vowed to drive the interlopers from their lands. The Stormpike dwarves sent in an initial expedition, the Stormpike Guard, to search for ancient relics of their past and mine for natural resources, and retake the valley. http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/battlegrounds/info-alteracvalley.html. Alterac Valley is also being threatened by trolls in the area. It is important to note that the Alterac Valley is just one of many of "the valleys of Alterac" where the Stormpike Clan live, and are known to "defend fiercely against the trolls and orcs that invaded the area." . As Brann points out, apparently he understands why the Horde are interested in the area, but is not sure why the trolls want the area . The valleys of Alterac are also sometimes referred to as the "Dwarf Highlands" - for example, "Frost Wolf was sent into the Dwarf Highlands in the mountains" – Bill Roper http://www.gamespot.com/features/pcgraveyard/p4_05.html. While the main conflict seems to be limited to Alterac Valley , the fighting has apparently spilled into the other valleys of Alterac as well. Additionally the Ironforge dwarves believe they have a right to the lands as well, and Magni Bronzebeard has issued a "sovereign imperialistic imperative" to the Stormpike Guard to take the land for the kingdom of Ironforge. At this point in time both factions (possibly even the troll faction as well) believe they have historical connections to the valleys and want to take them back. Faction viewpoints Alliance viewpoints Vanndar Stormpike has been given orders from Ironforge against making peace with the orcs, and appears to agree with the orders. He dismisses them as "savages trying to halt Ironforge's sovereign imperialistic imperative". He wants to slaughter all orcs including Drek'Thar, believing that when the General falls, the land will finally turn over to its rightful owner, "Ironforge". See also, Vanndar's book The Frostwolf Artichoke: Tales of Stormpike Glory. Lieutenant Rotimer clarifies that the "sovereign imperative" originates from Ironforge, and was issued by King Magni Bronzebeard. He claims that they are fighting a brutal battle in the valleys of Alterac. The cannibalistic Winterax trolls attack them from one side and the savage Frostwolf Clan from the other. He believes both must be exterminated in the name of King Magni Bronzebeard! "The taking, culling, and turning of that land is a sovereign and territorial imperative to the kingdom of Ironforge." Wing Commander Ichman, said he had spent three years in the hell hole. Three years as a prisoner of war to who he believed, were "damnable Frostwolf Clan". He believes he was made to sit in their tower and listen to them endlessly whine about the bridge to Dun Baldar. About how it's "unfair" the war was... even if "War isn't fair!". The Alliance Brigadier General believes that the Horde was quite right when they said that Alterac Valley is Frostwolf Territory, it was never Ironforge territory. He claims that Stormpike Expedition arrived as peaceful visitors to the area in search of ore and relics. He believes that the Frostwolves reacted with the most brutal and uncivilized act of aggression the Alliance has experienced. He never wants to forget the brave dwarves that perished in that "cowardly unannounced attack". Horde viewpoints Drek'thar sees the valley as Frostwolf territory and that the Stormpike Expedition has no right to take their land away. He has no intention of making peace with the Stormpike, instead wishing to execute them all to the last man (Vanndar himself) following the Rules of military conduct. He believes that the Stormpike have copied the Frostwolves defense plans and exactly how the Frostwolves own forces are set up, although Vanndar would claim otherwise (this is likely a reference to the gameplay balancing of the battleground). Drek'thar wants players to ask Vanndar to surrender (likely knowing that he would refuse), and orders his forces execute him whatever the response. See also Drek'Thar's book Peeling the Onion: The How to Guide on Dismantling the Stormpike. The Horde Warbringer, claims that despite what others might have heard, that the truth is that "Stormpike Expedition invaded Frostwolf Territory". He believes that the day that the Horde allows the Alliance to invade Horde lands without a forceful response is the day he will hang up his axe and live the rest of his life in shame. Ravak Grimtotem was sent to the war-zone by the Elder Crone to research the other races. More specifically, he was to collect gnome samples. Magatha was primarily interested in their survivability. They believed, that the gnomes - while pitifully weak and minuscule - exuded great resilience both in and out of combat. The Wing Commanders of the Frostwolf Clan wanted hundreds of pounds of flesh from the Stormpike soldiers, lieutenants, and others to feed to their fleet of War Riders. They wanted them to consume their enemy. Commander Louis Philips believes his brother is undoubtedly the most dangerous of the four Stormpike commanders. He believes that perhaps if he is slain, the Banshee Queen could turn him as she did him, and show him the error of his ways... Newbie guide If you've just visited AV a few times, and quickly want to know what's going on, here's a short and simple overview. The goal in AV is to kill the enemy general. The two generals are raid-level bosses that can be found in their fortresses at the two ends of the map - Vann for the Alliance north, Drek for the Horde south. About 15 players need to work together in order to bring one of the generals down. A rather elaborate system of NPCs, fortifications and graveyards fills the map between the generals. Both sides can do quests to improve themselves and their NPCs, and spend quite some time capturing many positions, but usually that's not done. It is far more efficient (considering reputation and honor gain) to just rush the enemy general, and kill him ASAP. Even losing a 20 minute game this way in the end yields more rewards (battle marks, reputation and honor) than taking part in a 2h stalemate (which still can be lost) - though some people think these rush games are no fun and not what the game is about.Due to several factors, the Horde usually loses this kind of quick game (because Stormpike graveyard is much harder to take than Iceblood GY, and the layout of the Horde base makes it easier to take than the Alliance base). Offense and Defense In the "quick" mode games, a strong emphasis is put on offense. Usually at least 30 people will take part in the rush to the enemy general, and at most 10 will try to delay the enemy attack. The defense needs to be aware that they do fight a losing battle, nevertheless it's usually the quality of the defense which decides the final outcome of the battle. Important: When fighting the enemy general, NEVER run outside of his building! If he chases you out of the building, his health will reset to full. This common newbie mistake can draw battles out unnecessarily or even cause their side to lose. Horde Three graveyards are usually taken - Stonehearth, Stormpike and the Aid Station. Stonehearth is optional, but usually needed if the defense is in any way competent. Stormpike is most important, and at the same time very hard to win, because there's a narrow passage through which all Horde forces must pass. The Alliance defense usually focuses on Stormpike alone, and it is not an unknown occurrence that Horde completely fails to take it. Balinda (in Stonehearth outpost) is usually only killed when it's clear that Horde will lose (e.g. when the Alliance has the Relief Hut and pulls Drek for the first time, while the Horde is not past the bridge behind Stormpike), in order to gain the additional reputation from her. Alliance The three important graveyards are Iceblood, Frostwolf and the Relief Hut. None of these are comparable in difficulty to Stormpike. Frostwolf especially is in open ground and next to impossible to defend. Thus the Horde defense usually tries to stall the Alliance at Iceblood garrison first (Galvangar) and Iceblood graveyard, and then falls back all the way to Drek. Typically the alliance will rush galv (in the iceblood garrison), then move on towards the iceblood graveyard, grabbing the two towers nearby. pretty much immediately after it's claimed, the frostwolf graveyard will be under alliance siege, and frostwolf keep will be under assault Characteristics Battleground overview thumb|The Alterac Valley In Alterac Valley, your goal is to push your way to the other faction's base, and kill the enemy General. Along the way, you have to deal with Bunkers, Towers, and several groups of NPCs. Each faction can capture the five Graveyards that are arranged through the valley to gain control of an area and a resurrection point. There can be up to 40 players on each side, and the minimum level requirement is 51. The match can be completed in fifteen minutes, but battles can last several hours. The primary bases are Dun Baldar for the Alliance and Frostwolf Village for the Horde. For information relating to balance issues in Alterac Valley, please see Alterac Valley Tactical Overview. Entry to the Valley The official entry to the valley is in northern Hillsbrad. The Alliance entrance is due north of Southshore and the Horde entrance is north-east of Tarren Mill. Like any battleground, you can also enter through a Battlemaster in any capital city. Note that Alterac Valley does not share the same level-bands as Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin. Instead there are only two level bands, 51-60 and 61-70. Map NPC Officers Each side in the Valley has one General, one Captain, four Commanders, and six Lieutenants (also see Blizzard's Alterac Officers page) The Generals, Vanndar Stormpike and Drek'thar, stay inside their faction fortresses at the far north and south ends of the map. When a general is killed, the match is over. Generals are tough, raid-level bosses, and typically require coordinated tanking and DPS to take down. It is impossible to kite the generals out of their fortresses and will reset if any attempt to train them is made. Generals are guarded by several Marshals (Alliance) or Warmasters (Horde), which are also tough bosses which require coordinated tanking and DPS, and can be pulled independently by skilled players. The number of Marshals or Warmasters in your faction's fortress is increased if the towers of the enemy faction are destroyed, and decreased if towers of the friendly faction are destroyed. With there being eight towers total on the map, it is entirely possible to have eight Marshals or Warmasters guarding your General, if you keep your own towers up and destroy all of the enemies. The Captains, Balinda Stonehearth and Galvangar, stay inside the more central bunkers of Stonehearth Outpost and Iceblood Garrison. As long as these captains are alive, they will periodically grant a 20% health buff and a size increase to all members of their faction. They are fairly tough bosses that can be taken down by a skilled 5-man group. The entrance to Stonehearth Outpost and Iceblood Garrison is guarded by two Lieutenants on each side, with Lieutenant Largent and Lieutenant Greywand guarding the entrance to Stonehearth Outpost, and Lieutenant Vol'talar and Lieutenant Lewis guarding the entrance to Iceblood Garrison. The Commanders occupy the towers and guard the graveyards of their faction. They are moderately tough elites and provide a health and mana regeneration buff to nearby allies. If all Commanders are taken down, some of their faction NPCs will stop respawning. The Lieutenants patrol the roads and graveyards of their faction. They are fairly weak elites that provide a lesser buff of the same nature as the Commanders. In addition, both factions have a number of non-elite NPCs that assist their side. These NPCs spawn at all graveyards and towers, and a small number of road patrols. When a graveyard is captured by a faction, the NPC guards for the graveyard spawn immediately. NPC players in AV can be buffed, healed, bandaged, and many other spell effects apply to them like paladin auras or the AoE buff of Battle Standards. In Patch 1.11, the number of NPCs was severely reduced. On some servers, this has led to a strategy that is usually called "the race". In this strategy, both sides bypass the main enemy group and rush the graveyard nearest the enemy base, quickly clear the two bunkers in the base, pull the Marshals, and then pull the General. Each side may also kill the opposing captain and claim a mine or easy Graveyard "on the way", but the goal is still to "rush the General" without directly engaging players of the opposing faction. This leads to a faster paced game which can be easily won or easily lost. The safest route is to leave some defenders to at least slow the opposing teams attack, but to still maintain an overpowering offense; to give up some ground, but not too much. The way some of them do it is to run most of a faction as fast as possible to the enemy base and then some of the team will use their recall to go on the defense team and slow the progress of the enemy. This provides enough time to let one side win while the other is held up by the defense. Personal Quests There are a number of quests that can be completed in Alterac Valley for reputation and rewards. They are broadly identical for Horde and Alliance, so they will be described in general terms here. These quests provide permanent rewards to a character, unlike the "Battle Quests" described below. For specific faction details, see Alterac Valley Alliance Quests and Alterac Valley Horde Quests. * Alterac Valley Trinket quest: A quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest to retrieve a banner from a cave. The caves are located in the far north and south ends of the valley. The reward for this quest is a trinket that provides a small amount of frost resistance and the ability to portal back to your faction's fortress from anywhere in the Valley. The trinket is upgraded for free at the original quest-giver as you gain reputation with your Alterac Valley faction, ultimately reaching epic status and carrying additional effects such as health regeneration and chance to dodge attacks. "Trinketing back to base" or 'recalling' is a standard last-ditch defensive strategy, and you will be expected to have completed this quest and be carrying your trinket. In addition to this the trinket is also useful to quickly return to your faction's fortress in order to turn in armor scraps and various other turns in. The rewards are Stormpike_Insignia / Frostwolf Insignia. * / : A quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest that is completed by winning a match. You must have the quest and be inside the instance when the enemy General is killed to complete the quest. The rewards for this quest are quite desirable blues, including the , , and . * Capture a Mine quest: A quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest to capture a mine. This quest is intended largely to teach you where the mine is, since you may be repeating the Mine Supplies quest many times. * Capture a Tower quest: A quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest to capture a tower. You do not have to be the one who personally clicked the flag, nor does the tower have to burn for the quest to be completed. You simply have to be in the vicinity of the tower when someone in the raid captures the flag in the tower. * Capture a Graveyard quest: A quest-giver outside the instance gives a quest to capture a graveyard. You do not have to be the one who personally clicked the flag, nor does the graveyard have to be successfully captured for the quest to be completed. Like capturing a tower, you simply have to be in the vicinity of the graveyard when someone in the raid captures it. Battle Quests In addition to the personal quests, there are a number of objectives that can be completed during a battle to provide a bonus to a faction. Many of these quests provide reputation points and all are worth doing whenever your side can complete them. * Unit Upgrades quest: The blacksmith in each fortress will accept Armor Scraps, which are dropped by players of the opposite faction when they are killed as well as enemy NPCs though in smaller numbers. The quest requires 20 scraps and can be completed as many times as you like. Each turn-in grants 1 reputation point to ALL members of the faction in the battleground, and 10 reputation points with Ironforge or Orgrimmar to the character completing the quest. When this quest has been completed enough times, the General will start to periodically provide a damage buff to all members of his faction; it starts at 10% and proceeds up to 30% as more quests are completed. In addition, once enough scraps are retrieved, a player with Honored or higher reputation can direct the smith to upgrade all of your faction's NPCs to a higher level and overall strength. * Mine Supplies quest: There is a mine located near each of the fortresses. The mine is initially under the control of hostile NPCs but can easily be captured by a single player. The mobs within are low-level (~52) and have unusually low health (though they do hit hard). A non-elite mob resides deep inside each mine; when he is killed, the mine comes under the control of your faction and is quickly filled with friendly NPCs. Once the mine is under your faction's control, the Quartermaster inside your fortress will start to collect supplies. When enough supplies have been gathered, a player with Honored or higher reputation can direct the Quartermaster to launch a ground assault which will spawn a group of elite NPCs that will move forward through the zone attacking enemy players and NPCs. This requires 6 turns-in from opposite faction mine to get the NPCs. Around 12 from the Mine closer to your base. * Cavalry quest: A cavalry stables is located near both fortresses. By using a tool provided by the stable master, characters can tame rams or wolves and return them to the stable. By killing the opposing faction's wild mounts, players can gather pelts. When enough tame animals and pelts are available, a character with Honored or higher reputation can direct the stablemaster to launch a cavalry assault. A player with high reputation (Revered?) can direct the cavalry to attack further by clicking on the cavalry directly. This requires 25 animal-tamings and 25 pelt turn-ins to complete. * Ultimate Unit quest: Arch Druid Renferal and Primalist Thurloga, located inside the faction fortresses, will accept Storm Crystals or Stormpike Soldier's Blood, which are dropped by fallen characters of the opposite faction. When enough of these items are turned in, the Druid or Primalist will move through the valley, accompanied by a group of elite guards, until they reach the Field of Strife. They will then start a summoning ritual, which requires ten players to click on their summoning circle. When this summoning is complete, Ivus the Forest Lord or Lokholar the Ice Lord will be summoned. These are tough raid-level bosses. They will spend some time on the Field of Strife killing whatever they see, and will then start to move towards the enemy base. These bosses are, unfortunately, plagued by evade bugs and are fairly simple to train into areas where they can easily be killed. The standard Horde strategy is to train Ivus to the entry tunnel and to kill him there. But if they are guarded carefully, they can easily turn the battle and end the match. * Aerial Assault quest: Wing Commander NPCs are held inside the enemy faction's base and towers. A friendly character can interact with these NPCs to free them, which will cause them to start running back towards their base. If the wing commanders make it back to their base, they will turn into a quest giver that provides a repeatable quest to turn in items that are dropped by players of the enemy faction (various sorts of meat for the Horde, and medals for the Alliance). If enough of these quests are completed, the Wing Commander will grant a quest that allows a player to summon a tough flying unit that will hover over an enemy area and drop bombs with a tough AoE knockback. Amounts of needed items for events Icelord / Ivus - 200 blood/Crystals are needed for the Primalists/Druids to start going to summon point. Slidore / Guse - 120 Frostwolf Soldier's Medals / Frostwolf Soldier's Medals Vipore / Jeztor - 60 Frostwolf Lieutenant's Medals / Stormpike Lieutenant's Flesh Ichman / Mulverick - 30 Commander's Medals / Stormpike Commander's Flesh Ram riders / Wold Riders - 25 skins and 25 tamed animals Graveyard guards upgrade - 500 armor scraps Aerial Assaults Once you have rescued the appropriate Wing Commanders and turned in the required number of medals or amount of meat, you have two options for each flight (assuming you have the required Stormpike Guard or Frostwolf Clan reputation level.) * Placing a beacon: You can request a beacon from any of the Wing Commanders that must then be planted on the battleground. (All beacons share a 30 minute cooldown before you can deploy another. If you want to have multiple beacons deployed, other players must deploy them.) The beacon takes 60 seconds to arm, during which it can be disabled by the opposing faction. When the beacon arms, it will summon an Aerie Gryphon (Alliance) or War Rider (Horde) to patrol the Field of Strife and alert nearby ground troops there when they spot the enemy. Slidore and Guse's beacons must be deployed at the east crater on the Field of Strife; Vipore and Jeztor's beacons must be placed at the west crater; Ichman and Mulverick's beacons must be placed at the north crater. * Ordering a strike: This will launch the Wing Commander by air to assault the enemy's base. Each Wing Commander will patrol a specific area of the enemy base, and support ground troops there. Slidore and Guse will assault the graveyard immediately outside the base (Stormpike and Frostwolf); Vipore and Jeztor will assault the outer section of the base (the Dun Baldar tower area and the lower part of Frostwolf Village); Ichman and Mulverick will assault the inner base (immediately outside the Generals' fortresses.) Prior to patch 1.11, it was considered advantageous to hold off on air strikes until your forces were attempting to assault an area; after 1.11, this became less of a factor since there is now much less time between ground pushes. *Note: Once you order a strike, you will not be able to pick up that wingman's beacon. Thus its best to pick up the beacon 1st. Strategies Advice to new players - The strategy points below are mostly opinions on how AV does/should play out. Don't enter AV as a new player believing that because you have read the strategies section below that you know what to do and proceed to start ordering other players around. This will most likely result in ridicule; you will not be the first. Additionally, you will not know if people speaking are veterans or newbies. You can only learn how to play AV from experience. Listen, watch, learn and within your first 50 - 100 games you will know all there is to know. Try not to form too many opinions based on your first few games, many new players fall into the trap of assuming that because their side has lost 5 games in a row using the same strategy, that the strategy must be wrong. Play both in the offensive and defensive groups in order to understand how they affect each other. Standard Battle Strategy A battle in Alterac Valley tends to follow a standard pattern: * Initial Phase: Both factions attempt to gain control of the enemy chokepoint to prevent access to the Field of Strife. For the Alliance, this means capturing Iceblood Graveyard and destroying Iceblood Tower. For the Horde, this means capturing Stonehearth Graveyard and destroying Stonehearth Bunker. Snowfall Graveyard is easily defended and difficult to capture once a side has claimed it. * Consolidation and Advance: Typically one faction will control the chokepoint and capture the graveyard there. That faction will then attempt to push onwards to the graveyard nearest the enemy base (Stormpike or Frostwolf). The defending faction will attempt to recover their graveyard and delay the advance. Often, both graveyards are captured and the two factions push forward simultaneously, leaving around 10 players on defense. * Fortress Assault: Once a faction has captured the graveyard outside the enemy fortress, they will attempt to push into the fortress. For the Alliance, this means pushing through a twisty series of ramps to the upper courtyard, where the two Frostwolf towers and the Frostwolf Relief Hut are located. For the Horde, this means fighting across the bridge and into the Dun Baldar Bunkers located north and south of the main road, and then to the Stormpike Aid Station located on the rear plaza. Defenders can use their trinkets to portal back to the main defensive area during this phase. * Fortress Capture: Each faction has a graveyard close to the enemy fortress. It is important for the opposing faction to take this graveyard and leave a few defenders behind to allow it to cap. * General Pull: Once the interior graveyard has been captured, it is very difficult for the defenders to stop an attack. The attackers will typically pull the marshals/wolves defending the general one at a time. It has been proven repeatedly that looting/skinning the wolves has no effect on their respawn. Please stop carrying on this rumor. '' They are tied to Drek'thar though, in that they have a high chance to respawn if he is allowed to reset. It's also best to have a hunter walk in and pull just one warmaster/marshal, run outside to the bottom of the stairs, feign death and let the main tank pick up aggro. It's important to let the Main Tank get in several sunder armors or similar high threat attacks before other players lay on the dps. If the main tank loses aggro, the warmasters/marshals and the general will run from person to person killing cloth wearers. It's best to mark the main tank with a raid icon and have all the healers focus only on the main tank. Drek'thar and Vanndar will both automatically reset when players are outside their lair. This is twofold; one, it prevents kiting, and two it permits players to kill marshals/warmasters without the severe molestation of the main boss. The Marshals will randomly charge people. No amount of threat and slowing of DPS will prevent this. They will run back to whoever is highest on threat, but they will go after random people. Nothing can be done to alter this. ::Horde Side Alternate Strategy: Have a hunter pull the marshals and lead them as far away from the base as possible before dying/feign death. Have the main tank pick up Vanndar before he exits the building and have every person in the room bunched up along the inside front wall that is farthest away from their spawn point. This will keep you out of range of the marshals, and allow you to kill Vanndar without having to slog through however many marshals are up. :::I would like to note that this strategy has been employed and widely circulated on the forums since the late summer/early fall of 2006. To this date, no one has once gotten in trouble for doing this, nor has Blizzard said either way if this is an exploit or not. This leads to the confusion about the "legality" of this. * All In: Once all, or a majority, of the warmasters/marshals have been killed, the raid leader should give the "All In" command, and everyone enters the fortress, again allow the main tank to pick up aggro before laying on the dps, again have healers only heal the main tank. Defenders may attempt to trinket in and disrupt the fight, or to mount a coordinated attack into their own base from the graveyard outside. Once the general is dead, the match is over. ::IMPORTANT: Once the "All In" command has been given, NO ONE must leave the general's room once inside. If the general chases you outside, he will immediately reset and heal to FULL HEALTH. There are certainly variations on this pattern. The most important factor in the flow of a battle is control of the graveyards. A stealthy capture of a graveyard in the interior of the map while a heavy attack recovers a graveyard at the end of the map (for example, a stealth capture of Snowfall while the Horde recovers Frostwolf from Iceblood), can cause a sudden reversal of the entire match. (In this example, the Alliance would be forced to resurrect at Stonehearth, suddenly losing control of half the map). The use of cavalry or ground unit charges in coordination with an offensive or defensive push is another rich source of advanced strategies. Many times you'll find a faction not playing any defense. This could easily lead to disaster. Take the case where one side doesn't play defense, but the other puts 10 on defense. The offense going against no defense will get to the enemy stronghold much quicker than the offense going against the 10. The function of the 10 is not to hold ground, but to delay the enemy's offense. From experience, the Horde has a much bigger tendency to not play defense - and lose accordingly. It is worth noting that a common argument for the Horde's tendency to play full offense is the imbalanced nature of the terrain. While Dun Baldar fortress and its associated bunkers and Aid station are protected by a choke point (a relatively thin bridge), Frostwolf Keep and its associated towers and Relief Hut are easier to access due to the open terrain. Alternate Strategy: Turtling Sometimes the basic race strategy will fail for one side, and the entire offense will resurrect at the Stormpike/Frostwolf Graveyard. In that case, the most common strategy employed is Turtling. In this strategy, the Defending team attempts to halt the opposing offense altogether and break it, thus breaking the opposing teams momentum, and gaining much momentum for the defending team. The defending team will mass at one graveyard and create a sort of defensive mob or wall while waiting for the opportunity to plow through the offensive team, which keeps attacking the graveyard in order to break the defense and get closer to the defensive team's general. 5-10 players will usually be devoted to quests, as NPCs such as the Elite Druids/Shamans, the Wing Commanders, the Summoned Elites, and Calvary can be a turning factor in each team's respective roles. One problem with the Turtling strategy is that total defense gives the offensive team a lot of time to gain a lot of honor killing NPCs such as the defending team's captain, as well as allowing the offensive team time to summon their ultimate Elite. This strategy also makes for games that last for hours on end. However, this strategy is ideal for players who want to rack up kills. Build a wall in the middle of the map, have everyone defend, and have a certain group set to go and collect resources, that wall will be required to keep all enemy players out of your area, in effect, you are making a barrier to hold them away. During their attacks, you should slowly push forward, and eventually take their front lines and hold it from there. Once you control the entire middle, turn in any armor scraps, storm crystals etc and release your boss unit, cavalry, commandos etc and push forward with extreme prejudice. Keep them out of your lands until you gather enough resources to defeat them. Reputation As you fight in Alterac Valley, you earn reputation with either the Frostwolf Clan for Horde or the Stormpike Guard for Alliance. There are two vendors for each faction; one inside Alterac Valley and one outside in Hillsbrad Foothills. For the Alliance, the NPC within the battleground that sells vendor rewards is in the Dun Baldar South Bunker. Note that in Alterac Valley all reputation with the Frostwolf Clan and the Stormpike is shared amongst ''all combatants, whether or not they are partied with you. However some turn-ins will give reputation with one of the four main primary factions. This faction reputation is not shared. Stormpike/Frostwolf reputation is gained in the following ways: * Killing Enemy General (389 Rep) * Killing Enemy Captain (125 rep) * Killing Enemy Lieutenants and Commanders (12 rep each) * Killing an Enemy Air Master (5 rep) * Killing any Enemy Guard (5 rep) *NOTE: This is capped through honored and does not give rep in revered* * Killing an Enemy Player(+1 Rep+HK+CP). As of Patch 1.12 as soon as you enter Battlefield, you are assigned to a Raid Group. To score a kill, all you have to do is to be in a vicinity of a player who made the kill. The kill will be granted to you as long as you are alive. * Killing Ivus the Forest Lord or Lokholar the Ice Lord (125 rep) * Destroying an Enemy Tower (12 rep) * 1-time quests (first turn in of each repeatable, capture a tower/mine/graveyard, etc) (~100 rep each, varies) - rep gained from these quests is NOT shared amongst all combatants. Repeatable reputation quests * Ram Hide/Frostwolf Hide (2 rep each) * Bringing a Frostwolf/Ram to your stable (1 rep each) * Armor Scraps (1 rep for 20 plus 10 Orgrimmar/Ironforge plus 5 rep of the other factions(for every 2 turn ins)for the character) * Storm Crystals/Stormpike Blood (1 rep for 1 plus 10 Orgrimmar/Ironforge plus 5 rep of the other factions(for every 2 turn ins); 5 rep for 5 plus 50 Orgrimmar/Ironforge for the character) * Wing Commanders ** Slidore/Guse (1 rep) ** Vipore/Jeztor (2 rep) ** Ichman/Mulverick (5 rep) At the end of the game, extra rep is gained for each of the following conditions: * Enemy Captain Killed (36 rep) * Allied Captain Still Alive (125 rep) * Enemy Towers Destroyed (24 rep each) * Enemy Lieutenants and Commanders killed (12 rep each) * Controlled Intact Tower (12 rep each) * Controlled Graveyards (12 rep each) * Controlled Mines (12 rep each) Bonus Honor in AV Post-Patch 2.1.0 Shortly after patch 2.0 came out, the bonus honor for everything was reduced to 70% of what it had been before. At some point in time between then and 2.1.0, they were restored back to what they had been originally. In the 61-70 bracket, each of the following objectives gives 20.9 honor to all participants. Honor messages are always rounded down to 20 in the log and in combat text. Also your total honor is rounded down wherever it is displayed, but fractions of points are still kept in your totals. Because of this, every honor bonus will be displayed as 20 honor, but your totals will show 20, 41, 62, 83, etc. * Killing Enemy General (20.9 honor, Tested and Working) * Killing Enemy Captain (20.9 honor, Tested and Working) * Killing Enemy Lieutenants (20.9 honor, Tested and Working) * Killing Enemy Commanders (20.9 honor, Tested and Working) * Killing Enemy Tower Commanders (20.9 honor, Tested and Working) * Destroying an Enemy Tower (20.9 honor, Tested and Working) * Wing Commander made to the base (20.9 honor, Tested and Working) * Summoning Ivus the Forest Lord or Lokholar the Ice Lord (20.9 honor, Tested and Working) Events that do not award bonus honor * Killing Enemy Air Masters (Running back or Inflight) * Killing Marshals/Warmasters * Killing Vendors/Quest Givers * All quests * Capturing a resource (mines) * Taming a wolf or ram * Capturing a Graveyard for the second time * Killing any Guard not including the ones listed above * Killing Ivus the Forest Lord or Lokholar the Ice Lord At the end of the game, bonus honor is gained for each of the following conditions * Controlled Intact Tower (20.9 honor, Tested and Working) * Controlled Graveyards (20.9 honor. Game must last for at least 1 hour, Tested and Working) * Controlled Mines (20.9 honor. Game must last for at least 1 hour, Tested and Working) * Participating during an Alterac Valley Holiday Weekend (167.2 honor, 8x the normal objective bonus, Tested and Working) New Faction Reward System Alterac Valley items are now available by spending honor accumulated and a varying amount of Alterac Valley Mark of Honor. Though some of the Frostwolf and Stormpike factions items have different names and artwork, their bonuses and equip effects are identical. Unlike Warsong Gulch and Arathi Basin, Alterac Valley rewards are not currently available for upgrades, but this may change in the Burning Crusade expansion. Most rewards require level 55 or 60. Quotes * You'll never get me out of me bunker, heathens! - General Vanndar Stormpike * You seek to draw the General of the Frostwolf Legion out of his fortress? PREPOSTEROUS! - General Drek'thar * Uncouth scum! The Alliance will prevail in Alterac Valley! - Captain Balinda Stonehearth * I'll never fall for that, fools! If you want a fight, it'll be on my terms, and in my lair. - Captain Galvangar * I'm coming, Frostwolf! And this time you're gonna feel the flames! - Wing Commander Slidore * Wicked, wicked, mortals! The forest weeps. The elements recoil at the destruction. Ivus must purge you from this world! - Ivus the Forest Lord * It is done! The Ice Lord has arrived! Bow to the might of the Horde, fools! - Primalist Thurloga * I drink in your suffering, mortal. Let your essence congeal with Lokholar! - Lokholar the Ice Lord * "Snivvle is here! Snivvle claims the Coldtooth Mine!" - Taskmaster Snivvle See also * Alterac Valley info pages at the Official site. * Tips from the official site * Alterac Valley Map with Locations, NPCs and Quests. * Alterac Valley Mobs * Alterac Valley Buildings * Proud Aardvark's Alterac Valley Guide * Alterac Valley Guide for the Horde * Khyth's Horde Alterac Valley Strategy Guide Category:Battleground:Alterac Valley Category:Added content